


Today More than Yesterday and Less than Tomorrow

by lucidscreamer



Series: This, Our Eterntiy [1]
Category: Twilight
Genre: Alternate Canon, Drabble Sequence, M/M, Romance, Supernatural - Freeform, Vampires
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-08-09
Updated: 2010-09-17
Packaged: 2017-10-11 00:32:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,279
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/106262
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lucidscreamer/pseuds/lucidscreamer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The most fascinating creature Carlisle has ever seen is seventeen and dying. AU, vampires. Carlisle/Edward pairing; drabble series. SLASH! Non-canon. Each chapter will be a set of drabbles or a ficlet. May not be in chronological order.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The End is the Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> Series Title: More Today than Yesterday and Less than Tomorrow  
> Chapter Title: The End is the Beginning  
> Author: Lucidscreamer  
> Fandom: Twilight  
> **Pairing: Edward/Carlisle**  
> **Genres: Angst/Romance**  
> Rating: T  
> Prompts: (30kisses) #6 "the space between dream and reality", #22 "cradle" (Not an official claim; I'm just using the 30_kisses prompts.)  
> Word count: 300 (triple-drabble)

Series Title: More Today than Yesterday and Less than Tomorrow  
Chapter Title: The End is the Beginning  
Author: Lucidscreamer  
Fandom: Twilight  
**Pairing: Edward/Carlisle**  
**Genres: Angst/Romance**  
Rating: T  
Prompts: (30kisses) #6 "the space between dream and reality", #22 "cradle" (Not an official claim; I'm just using the 30_kisses prompts.)  
Word count: 300 (triple-drabble)

Disclaimer: _Twilight_ is the creation of Stephenie Meyer.

**Author's Note: This is SLASH. Male/male romance.** If slash is not your cuppa, please do not read on. If you _do_, please do not review telling me how "icky" slash is. Thank you.

* * *

_For you see, each day I love you more_  
_Today more than yesterday and less than tomorrow_.  
\- Rosemonde Gerard

-o-

**The End is the Beginning**

The most fascinating creature Carlisle has ever seen is seventeen and dying. His name is Edward and, despite the illness ravaging his body, he is beautiful.

Carlisle finds himself returning often to Edward's bedside. Hovering, anxious... knowing Edward will not recover. Fluid chokes his lungs. (He'll drown soon.) His young heart labors. (Still strong enough to force venom through dying veins?) When Carlisle catches himself staring at Edward's lips and wondering at their taste, he flees.

Days pass. He vows to stay away. (He doesn't). Edward haunts his thoughts. Carlisle tells himself he's not obsessed. (He is.)

In the space between _what is_ and _what might be_, he daydreams an end to solitude: Edward as friend, companion. Lover.

Edward's mother seals his fate with her pleas. "Save him!" (Keep him. _Always_.)

-o-

Getting Edward out of the hospital is easier than Carlisle imagined. Influenza is a ravenous beast, always hungry for more. One more corpse among so many goes unremarked, and the overworked staff is too weary to care who pushes yet another gurney to the morgue. Like a thief in the night, he spirits the still-breathing "body" away.

A final time, Carlisle watches Edward sleep. So young, so human. Carlisle longs to kiss him.

Instead, he bites.

-o-

It takes three days for Edward to awaken. Carlisle leaves his side only once, to hunt. He knows he will need all of his strength to deal with a newborn vampire.

As the venom burns away Edward's humanity, Carlisle cradles the writhing form in his arms and attempts in vain to soothe the excrutiating pain of the transformation. Edward's skin is hot against his - flame against ice, silk against stone. Despite his best efforts to the contrary, Carlisle revels in the feel of it, of holding him.

He hates himself, while Edward burns.


	2. The End is the Beginning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Pairing: Edward/Carlisle (This means SLASH, male/male romance. If this offends you, do not read on! If you DO read on, do not complain to the author about the slash.)**

**Pairing: Edward/Carlisle (This means SLASH, male/male romance. If this offends you, do not read on! If you DO read on, do not complain to the author about the slash.)**

Prompts: (30 Kisses) #28 Wada Calcium CD3, #23 candy, #12 in a good mood  
Word count: 100 (per drabble); 3 drabbles in this set

Disclaimer: Twilight is the creation of Stephenie Meyer.

Author's Note: The "chapters" in this drabble/ficlet series are not necessarily in chronological order. (This one very obviously takes place around 90 years after the first chapter.) Hopefully, this won't be too confusing for either the readers or the writer.

* * *

**Settling In: Forks, WA**

They take turns shopping at the local supermarket. Bread, milk, eggs, candy - comestibles as camouflage. _What_ they buy is not as important as _being seen to buy it_.

He and Edward draw enough attention: the way they look, the two of them living alone in that big, secluded house in the woods. No need to add to the speculation by forgetting the basics of their human pretense.

This week it's Carlisle's turn to shop. He pretends to check the list in his hand. But all he can think about is the kiss he'll receive when Edward welcomes him home.

-o-

They are _vampires_. There is absolutely no need for calcium supplements - or any other kind of supplement - but Carlisle still finds himself reading labels and thinking of how grateful he is for the strength inherent in Edward's bones and skin, and the venom he tastes when they kiss. The words "Building strong bones for a healthy life!" catch his eye and he laughs as he walks away.

"A healthy life" is a relative term when applied to supernatural creatures, but he knows beyond doubt that his own existence would not be worth continuing without Edward by his side.

-o-

Strains of Debussy wind through the air like ribbons, wrapping him up and drawing him upstairs. As always, Edward at the piano takes Carlisle's breath away. Long fingers deftly stroking the keys, face the picture of concentration, Edward is art in motion and Carlisle is rapt with appreciation.

Three strides carry him to Edward's side. He presses his lips to Edward's jaw, trails open-mouthed kisses across one high cheekbone, down to enticing lips that part for him with a soft moan.

Minutes later, Edward smiles. "You're in a good mood."

"You're here." As if that says it all.

It does.


	3. Obsession

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Carlisle discovers a new facet of his own personality -- and an endless obsession.

Word count: 200 (double-drabble)

Author's Note: We're revisiting the beginning with this one (remember: I said they would be out of chronological order), exploring a bit more of Carlisle's POV. I had this on the computer and thought I should finally get around to posting it. Feedback is welcomed.

* * *

 

Carlisle has seen obsessive behavior in others of his kind, especially during his stint in the vampire city of Volterra, but has never considered it to be a factor of his own personality. Until now.

Until Edward.

Carlisle cannot stop thinking of him. The memory of a single smile holds him captive for hours. He is mesmerized by the bold curve of Edward's jaw, the heavy arc of his brow, the slightly crooked line of his nose. Every moment with him is a treasure to be horded for time spent away from the hospital, from the object of his obsession.

That time away soon diminishes. Straying far from Edward's side becomes unbearable; watching him die, unthinkable. The young man's heart labors to find each beat, his lungs congest with fluid as he lies drowning on his hospital bed. Carlisle doesn't have long to make his decision: let nature take its course or grant unnatural, immortal "life".

The way his heart breaks at even the thought of existence without Edward makes his decision for him. (A mother's plea to save her son provides the excuse.)

And, as he ends Edward's human life, Carlisle knows his own endless obsession has just begun.


	4. Rebirth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Edward's point of view as he is reborn as a vampire. Double-drabble.

Edward was in Hell.

That was the only logical explanation for his endless torment. Every breath was torture. Every pounding heartbeat felt as if it would shatter his aching chest. His limbs throbbed. His blood boiled within his veins, every cell of his body ablaze with agony. He had screamed his throat raw. Now, his lips moved in voiceless pleas for the pain to end. He had a vague sense of a presence hovering nearby, fleeting cold caresses against his cheek and fevered brow. He begged the presence to kill him, free him from his suffering, but the only response was a soft murmur of words his exhausted mind couldn't process.

And, through it all, he _burned_.

-o-

When his heart fell silent, it took with it most of his torment. Left behind was a burning in his throat, as if he had swallowed live coals or gargled with fire. For a moment, the burning was all he could feel -- and then the buzzing at the back of his mind, as if of the swarming of a thousand bees, came roaring to the fore, and he flung his hands up to cover his ears against the onslaught.

It didn't help.


End file.
